Brammar leaned into the large leather chair as he went through the day’s reports, which he always did in his office. He didn’t require a desk, nor even an office for that matter, since he had been assigned a leadership role and was wearing [Ring of the Administrator], which meant he could receive those reports anywhere, as long as he was on the planet linked to the ring.

  Author note: this webnovel is freely available on Royal Road. Please support the author by reading only on that site.

  Even so, he enjoyed the feel of paper in his hand. It might not be the safest of methods for delivering important information, but thankfully, there were skills to assist with that.

  All of this has been passed down to him from his mentor, Lord Keldoz, who had instilled in him the importance of appearances. Sitting on a desk with a stack of papers, while extremely inefficient, highlighted his role to his people, and most importantly, to the newly initiated. People feared authority, and right now, he was authority.

  *Knock knock knock*

  “Come in,” Brammar commanded. He had been expecting this visitor. The guards at the mansion’s entrance had alerted him earlier, informing him of his unannounced guest. A rage-inducing man he could’ve done without seeing.

  “Mr. Brammar, I hope I’m not interrupting anything of importance,” Arthur greeted.

  “Mr. Arthur. I don’t think I need to remind you again of the proper way to address me, do I?” Brammar warned.

  “My apologies, Adept Brammar,” Arthur apologized, not looking apologetic in the least. “Getting accustomed to the new titles and monikers hasn’t been the simplest of tasks.”

  “Seems to be a worrying trend amongst your people. Their lack of respect in regard to their position is becoming problematic,” Brammar scorned. “Even our farmers have more common sense than what you and yours have shown,” he spat.

  “Ahh, I hope you do not take offense to that. It’s but a rebellious phase. Part of our nature, if you would, as blindly submitting to authority has never led to positive outcomes,” Arthur clarified, as calm as ever in his responses.

  “So you’ve claimed, yet this ‘rebellious phase,’ as you call it, is only getting worse, and my patience continues to run thin,” Brammar asserted.

  “And yet you still enjoy its fruits in the form of more geniuses than the empire has ever seen. So it’s fair to say your patience is being generously rewarded,” Arthur stated, a thin smile on his face.

  “Which is why I remain patient… for now. But let me be clear, soon, all the talent on your planet won’t be enough to make up for the blatant disrespect and disregard that me and mine are being shown by your people,” Brammar threatened.

  “I’m sure the final results will please those in power,” Arthur replied, bowing slightly, not bothered in the least by the continued threats. “However,” he added, “what worries me is not my own, but the failures of yours.”

  “A slight delay is not a failure,” Brammar snapped.

  “Maybe not, but it does weaken our position and increases the odds of it becoming a problem,” Arthur shot back.

  “I will deal with the boy and the girl.”

  “And their parties,” Arthur added.

  “And their parties,” Brammar corrected, now seething with barely restrained rage. “You just make sure those under your banner are playing their parts well. I would hate for something to compromise your position, after all,” he sneered, trying his best to get a reaction out of the always composed man.

  Arthur simply smiled, not getting baited by Brammar’s barely concealed threats.

  “I’ll await the good news at my residence then,” he stated, turning around and getting ready to exit the office. With his hand on the door handle, he added. “Hopefully soon. After all, my position is not the only one at risk, Adept,” he finished before excusing himself, leaving a fuming Brammar behind, who threw a wooden clock at the closed door, shattering it to pieces.

  “KULGAR!” Brammar roared in a thunderous voice, calling for his assistant and right-hand man, who had been waiting outside his office.

  Kulgar rushed into the room and dropped to one knee. “Yes, Lord Brammar.”

  “Tell the Grand Magus to bring his mirror and get me Moaaz on the other end of it. NOW,” Brammar thundered.

  “I’m afraid Lord Al-Haan has been unreachable all week, my lord,” Kulgar replied, respectful and unfazed by Brammar’s anger, which had reached its boiling point, as something snapped in him.

  A wide grin grew on his face. An evil, vicious grin that only spelled doom to those who saw it.

  “Good,” his voice dripped venom as he said the next words. “Send a message to Moaaz through our envoy on Helendar. If he’s not in front of a magical mirror, waiting patiently, within the next cycle, he and that little planet of his will be in for a very unpleasant surprise.”

  Matt was going through item descriptions with a mix of dread and excitement. While the altar had shown a disturbing reality of what life in the system entailed, truly evil beings had existed on Earth long before the system, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to him.

  That realization hadn’t made it any less horrendous, it just made it easier to grow numb to such horrors, no matter how sad that may sound.

  The items, on the other hand, seemed endless. And the variety was truly mind-boggling. From a sword that drained life into its user, to a quiver filled with exploding arrows, to even items that made absolutely no sense.

  Candied beans of absolute magic (uncommon)

  Consumable

  Item quantity: small pouch (50 pieces)

  No race/class restrictions.

  A bag filled with magical beans.

  “Tara? Why is there a bag of magical beans as a reward? And while we’re at it, the fuck is a magical bean?” Matt asked in obvious confusion.

  “Hmm? Oh, those are very popular!” Tara answered excitedly. “In short, they come in a pouch with each piece wrapped, not unlike a piece of candy. You just pick one at random and unwrap it, revealing its effect,” she explained. “Some are incredibly powerful, slowing time, giving you a stat boost, keeping your resources topped up for a certain period, while others are just plain useless, like a bean that turns you green, or makes you taller, or gives you dry mouth. Nothing detrimental, though. At uncommon rarity you have 40/60 mix of good to useless, and once you unwrap a piece, you can’t wrap it again or put it back in the pouch,” she finished, a look on her face that was the exact opposite of Matt’s reluctant confusion, where he was asking himself why someone would want to subject themselves to something like this. It sounded fun, no doubt about it, but unwrapping one in the middle of a battle just for it to turn him green sounded like a recipe for disaster, or…

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Huh, Matt thought on it for a moment before shaking off the temptation.

  “Isn’t there a way to filter out these items? There is a lot that I can’t use,” he asked, refusing to believe that he had to scroll through all 384 to find what fit him.

  “Of course there is,” Tara answered before pointing a paw towards the tablet. “Filter items. Race: Human. Class: Magic based,” she commanded.

  The writing on the tablet started shifting, as some item names disappeared with others soon replacing them. A few seconds of shifting words later, and it was done. What had started as 384 items had been narrowed down to 92, which, while better, wasn’t that much of an improvement. It did bring up something else though.

  “Let me guess. I didn’t ask,” Matt stated, looking at Tara, who just looked him straight in the eyes and nodded.

  Matt sighed. He wasn’t stupid, he understood the implications. It meant that it wasn’t just questions. She literally couldn’t help him with anything unless he specifically asked, which was definitely not ideal.

  Her serious look also indicated that she wasn’t doing it out of malice, and so far she had been helpful and forthcoming with her answers. He just needed to find the right questions to ask, and one thing did come to mind.

  “Any recommendations?” Matt asked.

  “What took you so long?” Tara smiled at him.

  “I wanted to get an idea of what’s on offer first. It’s definitely something you don’t see every day,” Matt tried explaining.

  “Right.”

  “I’m serious,” Matt insisted.

  “And I believe you.”

  Matt narrowed his eyes at the smiling cat, who clearly didn’t believe him, sighing as he relented.

  The smiling cat, who was now grinning triumphantly, didn’t rub it in too much. “Alright, I’ve had my fun,” the cat finally said. “The most important item you’ll need is this,” she opened her paw, revealing a ring, which Matt immediately identified.

  Band of Holding (uncommon)

  Soulbound

  A ring crafted by a talented jeweler and infused with space and time magic. Allows the user access to a time-locked pocket dimension capable of holding a moderate amount of items. Anything stored within the pocket dimension is frozen in time until removed.

  +1 strength

  +1 vitality

  Matt’s eyes widened. “Portable storage,” he muttered in absolute wonder and amazement.

  “Spatial storage,” Tara corrected, snapping Matt back to reality, who was staring hungrily at the ring.

  “How large is it? ‘Moderate amount of items’ doesn’t really tell me much,” Matt asked with barely contained excitement.

  “Around the size of a small house, but don’t let that discourage you. Spatial items are incredibly rare and expensive to make, even if the rarity doesn’t indicate that. Most people your level will be walking around with minor rings, which is the size of a small closet,” Tara tried to sell Matt on the ring, mistakenly thinking that his shock and awe was at its small size. Meanwhile, Matt was completely lost in his head as a plan started forming. The plan to design, build, and carry a house with him in his new, house carrying, ring.

  There was no doubt in Matt’s mind that he would be picking the ring. Even if he had nothing on him right now, he assumed that wouldn’t be the case as time went on. And being stuck alone meant no access to markets or shops at which he could remedy whatever he lacked. Having a spatial storage on hand was incredibly important. And one capable of holding as much as a house? Now that was a must have item if he had ever seen one.

  It did remind him of something else he lacked, though, something just as important for someone in his position.

  “Are there some general knowledge books or information as part of the rewards?” he asked, hopeful.

  “No,” was Tara’s heartbreaking answer.

  “What? Why not?” he asked again, actually surprised that there was none.

  Tara gave him a weird look for a few seconds before explaining. “No one who is lacking in general knowledge enters the trial, so that kind of reward would be utterly useless to everyone,” she explained.

  “I entered, and to me a reward like that is invaluable,” he rebutted.

  “The unusualness of your situation is just that, unusual. This isn’t a system dungeon. We can’t tailor the rewards. Instead, truly invaluable items that you would struggle to find elsewhere are offered,” she continued explaining. “Take the ring, for example. Even after the tutorial period is over and you’re reunited with others from Earth, you will not find a similar ring with anyone else who is a tier 9. That’s how invaluable it is. As for knowledge, that can easily be obtained, even if it seems daunting right now,” she finished her explanation, her answer not what Matt had hoped for.

  It was true, though. Knowledge was important to him due to his solitude and lack of access, something that should fix itself eventually.

  But wasn’t that the case for everything?

  If he lacked something that an item could fix, with time that might not be the case. Any reward was a temporary fix to a problem, and right now, the lack of knowledge was a problem.

  Nothing could be done about it though if there was none on offer. He’d simply have to push through and hope for the best. Meeting the cats had already helped him learn so much.

  Hopefully, his rewards could provide more help. If not in the form of answers, then at least enough power to brute-force his way through whatever ones he lacked. Because right now, he lacked a lot.

  It was another couple of minutes of being lost in his own head before he realized that the cat was staring at him with a glint in her eyes. He coughed into his hand, after which he told her that he’d be taking the ring, which she had already expected.

  He put the ring on and felt it tighten around his finger, becoming a perfect fit. He tried willing the storage to appear, but nothing seemed to happen, so he tried doing it the other way around. Grabbing his trusty scepter from beside him, he tried willing it into the ring. And just like that, it vanished.

  Matt waited a few seconds before envisioning the scepter appearing in his open hand. Again, the scepter appeared as if out of thin air.

  It was a novel feeling, and one he very much enjoyed. One question did come to mind, though.

  “Do I have to remember every item in there?” he asked.

  “It’s connected to you. If you close your eyes and direct your mind towards it, you can view its contents,” she answered while drinking from the seemingly never ending chalice.

  “Wait. Can anyone just take it and do that?”

  “No one can forcibly unequip it from your finger. You’d have to either do it willingly or be dead. Also, it’s soulbound, so no one else can use it besides you.”

  “Huh, that’s reassuring… I guess,” he muttered before closing his eyes and trying to peek into the ring. Surprisingly, a large grid appeared in his vision. He tried willing the scepter into the ring, and suddenly, there was a scepter stowed away in the corner of the grid, all by its lonesome.

  Matt opened his eyes, a giddy look on his face. “So cool…” he whispered as he appreciated the ring.

  “Glad you like it,” Tara, who was enjoying the show of the love between a man and his ring, responded.

  “By the way, do I get something else or is it just the ring?” Matt had never asked what rewards he’d be getting. He enjoyed the anticipation and surprise, and if he was honest, the ring was a great reward, especially since Tara had praised it so much. He did hope for something more, though. Preferably something that could help him in any upcoming battles. Or a change of clothes, perhaps. His pants and shirt were in tatters after all.

  Tara interrupted that train of thought with a chuckle. “Just a spatial ring as a reward would be insulting,” she said while waving a dismissive paw at him. “B+ is a very impressive rating. The reward for it is that you get to pick any three items from the list,” she said to a shocked-looking Matt whose eyes were widening more and more with every word, before finally adding, “also as an apology from Bastet for…” she coughed into her paw, “our behavior, you get to pick an extra item, so 4 in total,” she finished to a dizzy Matt who was about to pass out from excitement. He had even considered worshiping Bastet then and there for the briefest of moments, but thankfully he held himself, choosing to take a big swig from his wine chalice instead.

  After a few deep breaths and a couple more swigs, he felt composed enough to finally talk without sounding like an overeager kid. “Guess we better get on with it then,” he said with an infectious smile on his face.